Difference Metabolites Induced By Deoxynivalenol in Serum and Urine of Weaned Rabbits Detected Using LC-MS Based Metabolomics

Abstract

Background: The main toxin effects of Deoxynivalenol (DON), which known as one of the mycotoxins with the highest pollution rate, is the result of long-term accumulation, and there are no obvious clinical signs at the early stage. Specific metabolites in blood and urine can be used as biomarkers and become an important diagnostic indicator for DON poisoning monitoring. At present, studies on the metabolic pathways and characteristics of DON mainly focus on humans, pigs and poultry, but few study on rabbits. This study aims to reveal the difference in DON-induced metabolites in the serum and urine of weaned rabbits, so as to help find potential biomarkers and understand the mechanism of DON in rabbits.Methods: A total of 32 weaned rex rabbits were divided evenly into two groups, namely the control group and DON group. Both groups of rabbits were fed with the basic diet. Rabbits in DON group were intraperitoneally injected with DON at 1.5 mg/kg b.w. every two days before feeding, while rabbits in control group were injected with saline at 1.5 mg/kg b.w. in the same way. After the 25-day trial, the serum and urine samples at different experimental period were collected for LC/MS analysis.Results: The results based on the LC-MS/MS method showed that DON can be metabolized rapidly in blood, and urine is the main metabolism pathway for DON. The data based on metabolomics illustrated that underlying biomarkers in serum were mainly involved in Glycerophospholipid metabolism, Tryptophan metabolism and Pentose and glucuronate interconversions, while those in urine samples involved in Caffeine metabolism, Glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and Terpenoid backbone biosynthesis. Correlation analysis suggested that DON can induce 61 the changes in certain disease-related metabolites in serum and urine.Conclusions: The pathogenic mechanism of DON includes multiple levels, indicating that DON poisoning is caused by multiple factors acting on multiple links.